Determinants of Voting Behaviour

Abstract

This article represents a progress report on the statistical analysis of the 1948 Elmira election study. The analysis was carried out by an advanced seminar of the Columbia University Department of Sociology under the direction of Professor Paul F. Lazarsfeld; Mrs. Kitt and Mr. Gleicher were members of this seminar. Paralleling this work, Cornell University has proceeded with the analysis of the community background data. Various other problems have in the meantime been analyzed by staff members at Cornell and at the University of Chicago. The final report, now under the general direction of Dean Bernard Berelson, is expected in the Spring of 1951. In this progress report, principal attention is given to factors making for a change in voting intention during the campaign, and factors which affect the eventual turnout at the polls.